Challenges Of Digital Publishing Decoded

Prominent names from the digital publishing industry come together to discuss challenges like monetization, personalisation and security

- Neeta Nair

India is one of the rare markets where Print continues to grow year on year, but most publishers agree that Digital is the way forward. But then Digital comes with its own set of challenges which a round table discussion recently held in association with Akamai hoped to address. Amongst those who attended it include Varun Kohli, CEO at iTV Network, Mike Melli, Co-founder & Chief revenue officer, MissMalini. com, Murtaza Rangwala, CEO, FilmyMantra.com, Abhijeet Rane, MD & Founder, Mumbai Mitra, Deepesh Kothari, Head - Digital Strategy and Transformation, Amar Chitra Katha, Mukul Kumar Sharma, COO, Pinkvilla, Ammol Ghavare, General Manager, Deshdoot Media Group, Nitin Tej Ahuja, Publisher, Box Office India, Saurabh Garg, Audience Development Director, Condé Nast India, Rajat Nigam, Group Technology Officer, Network18 Media, Ankit Dhadda, Product and Digital Head, Bloomberg|Quint, Kapil Sharma, Senior Vice President, Marketing and PR, 9X Media, and Sandeep Reddy, Country Sales Manager, Media, Akamai Technologies.

Elaborating on the how the digital ecosystem has evolved Rajat Nigam said, “I started my career 26 years ago, when there was nothing called Digital. There was a single television channelDoordarshan. Back then the TV was called the Idiot Box and today it is called the Smart TV. The trend has moved from Print to Television to online and now social media. In fact Digital has evolved drastically in the past five years, which is what makes this medium so exciting. Today the strategy is not to just be digital-first but mobile-first, even desktop traffic is going down. That puts incredible pressure on the business models and revenues.”